


The Geneticist and the Goddess

by lalalalalawhy



Series: Small Moments with Goddesses [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Accidental summoning, F/F, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-20 06:16:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9479096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lalalalalawhy/pseuds/lalalalalawhy
Summary: “Did you not place upon your altar the purest juice of the rarest fruits?” the Goddess asked, gesturing at the mess on the table.“Um,” Adriana said, dumbly. “It was just, like, four ounces of blueberry açaí.”





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [octopus_fool](https://archiveofourown.org/users/octopus_fool/gifts).



“Oh no, oh no, oh no, no, no, NO!” Dr. Adriana Rodriguez, associate professor of genetics and biomechanics, said as she attempted to make a dam using only her arm and lab coat sleeve to protect the rest of her samples from the encroaching flood.

Everything had been going so well this morning, too! Adriana’s work was ahead of schedule, for once, and she was making some real progress on that sequencing project that had made her life hell for the past six months.

It was going so well she had almost forgotten about the faculty dinner party that night. It was in honor of Dr. Alex Richard, her ex, and Dr. Anna Chau, her other ex, who had just gotten engaged. Adriana was very happy for them both, of course, and didn’t resent their love, not really. She had introduced them initially, though, for one reason or another, she hadn’t actually seen either of them since. It was just, well. 

Adriana really didn’t want to show up without a date. 

She had been throwing herself into her lab work for a full week to try and distract from the prospect of seeing them both, glowing with love for each other, while fully and totally single and dateless. 

She had a morning routine in the lab: tea, juice, email, slide prep, microscope. She’d gotten almost all the way through step four when, all of a sudden, she’d knocked over her glass of juice. 

That wouldn’t have been so bad: the glass was small and less than half full, but in flailing to grab the juice glass, she’d managed to topple her mug of tea, which was completely full. 

“Oh no,” she said again, trying to mop the mess up with one sleeve while rescuing the samples with the other hand. 

Suddenly, a bright strobe of light flashed from under the table. 

Dazzled, Adriana stumbled back, blinking.  _ What the hell?  _ she thought. The light looked as though it had come from a camera’s flash, but that seemed unlikely. First, a camera under a desk would have limited utility. Second, the University would absolutely never spend money on such a device.

She leaned down to investigate, only to find herself nose-to-nose with the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen. 

Adriana found herself dazzled for the second time in as many minutes. The woman’s dark tan skin seemed to be glowing, glittering with an inner light, which Adriana chalked up to an overly-aggressive glitter moisturizer. The woman had the brightest dark eyes Adriana had ever seen, and she couldn’t tell if they were dark blue or dark brown or actually pitch black. She was a woman of long lashes and striking brows, but her face was wide and kind. She had two long, thick plaits of black hair, dark as the night sky, which also shimmered with tiny pinpricks of light. 

Adriana figured that could happen when you included glitter in your beauty products.

She wore a loose-fitting dress of midnight blue, smattered with constellations traced out in white and silver thread. The entire effect was stunning. 

Her lips were the color of rose petals, and parted slightly in surprise. Adriana, suddenly aware she was staring, startled back almost apologetically.

“Hello,” Adriana said, her voice breaking slightly. She cleared her throat. 

“You can’t be in here,” she tried again, immediately kicking herself for her rudeness. 

The woman gazed up at her, knowingly. 

“Yes, I can,” she said, and her voice, deep and husky, sent chills up and down Adriana’s spine. “I am always where I need to be.”

“This lab isn’t open to students or the public, though,” Adriana said, and sighed a little bit. She’d take any excuse to keep the woman around longer. 

“Why did you summon me if you do not wish to have me here?” asked the goddess (now, why did Adriana think of that?), genuinely puzzled. “Why bring me all the way here just to send me away?”

Adriana was baffled. 

“Of course I didn’t summon you,” she said,  _ though that would be a neat trick on some lonesome nights, _ she found herself thinking, and mentally gave herself a quick kick in the shin. 

The woman pulled herself out from under the table and stood up to her full height. Although she was only a little taller than Adriana herself, she was also infinite, filling Adriana’s entire vision with sparkling and ethereal beauty. Adriana fought to keep her knees from buckling under the enormity of her splendor.

“I am a Goddess of the Southern Stars, and you did indeed summon me, mortal,” she said, her face so close to Adriana’s she could feel her breath against her cheek. It smelled like the first clear night after the first rain in springtime.

“Did you not place upon your altar the purest juice of the rarest fruits?” the Goddess asked, gesturing at the mess on the table. 

“Um,” Adriana said, dumbly. “It was just, like, four ounces of blueberry açaí.” 

“And did you not steep together exotic flower petals and the fruit of the cacao tree?” she asked.

“I mean, I had a decaf mocha chai,” Adriana said, reaching around her and righting the toppled mug at last. 

“And did you not, once the concoction was complete, spill upon it the blood of your vanquished?”

“Ah, no,” Adriana said, retrieving the samples. “These are just samples of isolated DNA, some of which may have come from blood samples, and then I spilled my tea and juice on them.”

All things told, this was not a very good explanation for why the goddess was actually here, but it was a start. You always had to start with the facts. Speaking of...

“You know what? These definitely came from blood samples. I had my undergrad lab students isolate their own DNA last semester, though I would hardly say they were my vanquished…” she trailed off, remembering the much-lower-than-average GPA of that particular lab.  _ Huh.  _

The goddess surveyed the scene, blinking slowly. 

“I see,” she said. “An unintentional summoning usually means the summoner is in a moment of great need.”

The goddess stepped closer, her body just millimeters away from Adriana’s. Adriana could feel the heat and chill radiating from it at the same time, a sensation that was both completely foreign and completely thrilling. She swallowed, hard, and looked up to meet the goddess’s gaze. 

“What, dear summoner, do you need?” the goddess asked.

Adriana paused for a moment, and a smile crept over her face.

“Do you have any plans for tonight?”


End file.
